This invention relates to cases for electric storage batteries which are to be fixed on their installation site. The sites may be either stationary or mobile, located, for example, in a building or in a vehicle or boat.
Electric storage batteries are often required to be fixed onto their installation sites. The reason for this is, of course, that the storage battery might be exposed to forces which could cause it to move out of position. For example, the storage battery might be overturned and the electrolyte run out, or the storage battery might be damaged with various undesirable consequences. To minimize this risk the storage battery should be fixed in some way onto its installation site.
Suitable fixing arrangements will vary of course, depending on the forces to which the storage battery will be exposed. Various methods of solving this problem have already been proposed; for example, a belt or other arrangement may be stretched over the storage battery and connected to the substructure. Batteries for automobiles have been provided with "facings" or heel straps, by which the lower part of the battery is secured to the automobile frame. Another alternative is that folds or lugs may be made in the battery case for connection to the substructure. All these constructions involve disadvantages such as, for example, poor strength properties, high weight or large space requirements.
In a preferred form, the present invention provides a battery case which comprises side wall members and a bottom member, the said side wall members having extensions which extend below the bottom member of the case and which are adapted to be fixed to a substructure or support member.
It is accordingly an object of the present invention to provide a novel storage battery case which permits the battery to be more readily installed at its operation site with less danger of being subjected to detrimental movement.
Another object of the invention is to provide a novel storage battery casing wherein extensions of the walls below the bottom wall provide means for anchoring the battery at its operation site with reduced danger of it being subjected to overturning.
It is a further object of the invention to provide a novel installation of, and method of installing, storage battery casings which permit convenient assembly of a plurality of batteries together at their operation site.
Still another object of the invention is to provide improved storage batteries with cases using a construction employing reinforcing fibers in enlarged lower surface supports to provide added strength and permit easy anchoring to a supporting surface.